The difference between Bachelor of Science (Bsc) and Higher National Diploma (HND) graduates in Nigeria has been put to an end by the federal government.
Head of Service of the Federation (HOCSF), Winifred Oyo-Ita, made this known on Sunday in a circular containing the presidency’s resolve on the age-long disparity.
The Nigerian Association of Technologists in Engineering (NATE) urged government at all levels to set up monitoring groups to see that the decision is implemented Beneficiaries of President Muhammadu Buhari’s cancellation of the difference between university and polytechnic graduates in the civil service have praised him for his actions.
While the disparity had before now restricted polytechnic graduates to certain Salary Grade Level (SGL) in the civil service, it took the intervention of the National Council on Establishment (NCE) to address and solve the issue in their favour, Daily Trust reports.
In a statement dated March 26, Oyo-Ita relayed the decision of the NCE to all concerned and solicited their support for implementation.
The circular indicated that NCE approved entry point of SGL 08 for HND holders in the civil service. It also encouraged serving HND officers to fulfil all specified conditions as contained in scheme of service and extant rules for career progression beyond SGL 14.
Head of the umbrella body of the beneficiaries, the Nigerian Association of Technologists in Engineering (NATE), Ahmad Yabagi, informed journalists in Abuja on Sunday that the decision has paved the way for career building.
Yabagi said: “We are glad that this monster called dichotomy that has been a big threat to the development of technology in Nigeria has been defeated. NATE has therefore resolved to support and partner with the Federal Government in the quest to bequeath entrepreneurial skills to Nigerian youths as a means to turn around the economic fortune of Nigeria.”
Yabagi, however, advised all government agencies to see that the resolve contained in the circular is implemented throughout the country.
Meanwhile, NAIJ.com reported that Dr Ramon Adedoyin, the executive chairman of the Polytechnic, Ile-Ife, had called for the outright scrapping of the Higher National Diploma (HND) programme, and its replacement with a Bachelor’s degree in Technology, as obtainable in advanced countries. Adedoyin made his comments during a chat with newsmen; against the backdrop of the federal government’s recent removal of the dichotomy between the holders of HND and university degrees.
